Amy Guzman

About

I am a fractional General Counsel and privacy officer with more than 20 years of legal experience across venture-backed startups, high-growth technology companies, and an Am Law 100 firm. I work as an embedded partner to founders and leadership teams, joining conversations early and helping the business make thoughtful, practical decisions before issues become more difficult to resolve. My clients are primarily pre-seed through Series B AI and SaaS companies across FinTech, HealthTech, investment technology, and other AI-driven platforms. They need experienced legal judgment and a GC who is genuinely part of the team, without the cost of a full-time hire. My work includes commercial negotiations, privacy and AI governance, regulatory compliance, employment matters, board and executive risk reporting, and legal operations. I am equally comfortable shaping long-term strategy and handling the day-to-day work required to keep deals and business priorities moving. I focus on building clear, scalable legal infrastructure that supports growth rather than becoming a bottleneck. I have built legal functions from the ground up at four companies. Before launching my fractional practice, I served as General Counsel and Privacy Officer at SOCi.AI, where I built and led the legal, privacy, and compliance functions as revenue grew from $35 million to more than $100 million ARR. At Lyft, I established the Lyft Business commercial legal function and led complex negotiations, including a five-year, $405 million federal GSA contract. Earlier, I negotiated commercial agreements at Salesforce across the U.S., APAC, and EMEA and began my career at Baker McKenzie. I regularly speak to the in-house legal community through Contract Nerds, TechGC, InHouse Connect, ITechLaw, GC AI, and Lean Legal Collective. I earned my J.D. from UC Berkeley School of Law and am a member of the California State Bar, ACC, WGCN, and the GC Collective.

Practice Areas

Featured Clients

TaktileAbby IntelligenceSIGNiXFormDrFuture Capital

Services

• Data Privacy/AI Governance

  Helping businesses navigate data protection laws, implement compliance programs, and mitigate risks in handling personal and sensitive information. DPAs, BAAs, EU-US DPF, EU AI Act, etc
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• Regulatory

  Advising companies on regulatory compliance across industries, ensuring adherence to evolving laws while enabling innovation and growth.
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• Employment & HR

  Guiding businesses through hiring, workplace policies, compliance, and dispute resolution to foster legally sound and productive workplaces. Offer letters, employee policies, PIIAs, offshore hiring, employee handbooks, terminations & severance, RIFs, equity plans, cafeteria plans.
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Work

• 
  Founder

  ayni legal

  Jan 2026 - Present
• 
  General Counsel

  SOCi.ai

  Jan 2021 - Apr 2025
• 
  Director of Legal

  Eightfold

  Jan 2021 - Dec 2021

Education

• Boston University
  Executive MBA, Business Administration and Management, General • 2023
• University of California, Berkeley - School of Law
  JD, Law • 2002